Kasbohm's no-hitter leads Thunder past Harvard

Jeremy Anders

Friday

May 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2009 at 6:25 AM

West Carroll advances to the Byron Sectional final on Saturday with the win.

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It was about as perfect as a pitching performance can be.
West Carroll sophomore ace Jordan Kasbohm was perfect through six innings and allowed only one baserunner on an error to lead off the seventh in West Carroll’s 5-0 win over Harvard in the Class 2A Byron Sectional. The Thunder face Oregon in the sectional championship at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Byron High School.
Kasbohm struck out 12 and only let one ball get out of the infield — a flyout to center field in the first inning. The only thing that kept her from a perfect game was a throwing error on a nice bunt attempt by Harvard’s Samantha Herely.
“It speaks for itself,” West Carroll coach Don Mathey said of Kasbohm’s performance. “The girl made a good bunt there, she (Kasbohm) was phenomenal.”
Kasbohm used her curveball and riseball effectively throughout the game. She planned on using those two after watching the Hornet hitters warm up.
“I knew I could strike all of them out on those,” Kasbohm said.
Kasbohm did a good job of consistently getting ahead of hitters to help her use those pitches effectively. She had a three-ball count only three times in the game.
“She was a very good pitcher,” Harvard coach John Lagerhausen said. “She threw a real nice game and kept our kids off balance.”
The Thunder gave her all the support she would need in the second, and they did it without getting a ball out of the infield.
Jennesa Miller walked to lead off the inning and Kasbohm laid down a perfect bunt that got past the pitcher and third baseman for a hit. Kayla Kasbohm then got the first of her three hits when she laid a bunt down the first base line, but no Hornet defender covered third to load the bases.
Rica Sedivy then hit a dribbler up the first base line that was fielded cleanly, but Miller beat the throw home to score the first run of the game. Sophi Morhardt, in the game as a courtesy runner for Jordan Kasbohm, then scored on a wild pitch and Sedivy scored on another wild pitch almost immediately after that to make it 3-0.
“We took advantage of some miscues, we didn’t really hit the ball very well,” Mathey said. “We did get some bunts down that kind of forced the issue a little.”
The Thunder took advantage of another Hornet mistake in a big way in the third. Chelsie Sipe led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and was sacrificed to third. Katie Wiersema then walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch to put runners on second and third with one out. They both scored on another wild pitch when the throw from Harvard catcher Michaela Binz got away from freshman pitcher Lindsay Melson at the plate to make it 5-0.
Kasbohm kept the Hornets at zero the rest of the way and has thrown 22 straight scoreless innings in the postseason. The only time she was scored upon in the playoffs was in the fifth inning of the Morrison Regional semifinal against Morrison when she gave up four runs.
Kasbohm has been untouchable in the postseason, with Thursday’s performance ranking right up with her 12-inning shutout of Milledgeville/Polo when she out-dueled Missiles ace Keali Engelkens.
“As soon as it started getting later, she pretty much had control of the game,” Mathey said. “She was in command and overpowering their hitters.”

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